Method of preventing erosion of river-banks.



W. ELPEDLEY.

METHOD OFIPREVENTING EROSION ,OF RIVER BANKS. APPLICATION FILED 00128,!914.

1,168,547, Patented Jan. 18, 1916.

an? 1 m THE COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH co. WASHINGTON, n. c.

WILLIAM E. PEDVLEY, or RIVERSIDE, CALIFORNIA.

Mn'rH'on on PRE ENTING nnoszou or RIVER-BANKS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 1 int.

. Application filed October 28, 1914. Serial N 0. 868,999.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM E. PEDLEY, a subject of the King of Great Britain, residing at Riverside, in the countyof Riverside, State of California, have invented new and useful Improvements in Methods of Preventing Erosion of River-Banks, of

which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a method and a means for preventing the erosion of river banks.

It is the object of this invention to provide a means and amethod, whereby a re vetment will be automatically formed on the embankment of a river or stream to prevent excessive erosion thereof, and at the same time provide means whereby alluvian Wlll be caused to take place.

Rivers and streams frequently erode their banks to a considerable extent where bends occur, especially within their deltas. Various means and methods have been employed for preventing such erosion, as for instance, by constructing walls of stone or cement or by lining the embankment with piling and sometimes by employing brush mats or building levees with bags of sand and the like. These methods, while ordinarily efi'icient, entail considerable expense and labor which precludes their general use, particularly in outlying districts.

In carrying out the present invention trees and shrubbery which ordinarilyhave a thick and extensive growth along the banks of a stream are utilized in forming the revetment by anchoring and weighting portions thereof in such manner that as the banks are eroded and the soil carried away the trees and shrubbery instead of being washed away by the stream will be securely anchored on the eroded bank to form a brush wall in which debris will be deposited by the stream to form a protective matand inhibit the further erosion of the embankment.

The means and method for carrying out the present invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a birds-eye view of a river bend showing the manner of anchoring and weighting the trees and shrubbery. Fig. 2 is a sectional view of a stream and its banks showing the manner of tying the trees and shrubbery together and providing an anchorage for same prior to the erosion of the river bank. Fig. 3 is a view illustrating the manner in which the trees an'd shrubbery are anchored on the embankment of the stream l: to form a brush mat thereonwhen the banks of the stream have been underminedbythe l stream sufliciently to cause the anchored brushto be submerged and disposed along the embankment.

More specifically, 5 indicates the stream and 6 designates the bank on the side thereof which is most subject to erosion. In carrymg out the present invention the trees and shrubbery 7 growing on the bank 6 are utihzed and may be the natural growth or may be planted for the express purpose to which it is put.

A wire cable 8 is then-fastened at a point 9 to a tree or other suitable anchorage so positioned as to be safe from erosion. This cable 8 is run parallelwith the edge of the bank where erosion is taking place at a suitable distance therefrom; this distance being approximately 50 feet in ordinary practice. Extending laterally from, the cable 8 on opposite sides thereof are cables 11 and 12; the, cables 11 beingsecured to all trees and brush on the side of the cable away from the bank 6 for a width of fifty feet orthereabouts. The cables 12 are connected to trees. and shrubbery growing along the bank 6 betweenthe edge of the stream 5 and the cable 8; the trees and shrubs thus connected to. the cable 8 being ordinarily spaced closetogether, but which are here shown in the drawings as separated for the sake of clearand are wired to the tree trunk or connected thereto by short lengths of wire 14:. These weights operate when the tree slides into the Water so that it sinks to the bottom, or is wholly submerged; when a strip one hundred feet wide has been eaten away by the river, a portion of the treesand brushwhich 1 I the eroded bank. I 4

- which grow By this method the river is compelled to ,form its own revetment out of the'materials away.

What I claim is: r a r A method of preventing the erosion of the "banks ofrstreams, consisting in running an anchored cable'parallei with the edge ofthe stream spaced therefrom on the bank thereofgj-tying the live' shrubbery' and. trees vQfiopies of this patent may be obtained for five cents eaeh, by addressing the Commissionerof Patents i upon the land which is, eroded.

growing on thebank adjacent the stream on to said cable, and attaching Weights to all or partof said trees and shrubbery sufnficient to sink, or submerge said trees and shrubbery upon erosion of the bank.

In Witness that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto subscribed my name this 19th day of October, 1914:.

WILLIAM E. PEDLEY,

Witnesses: V Y

7 MARGUERITE BATES,

MARIE BATTEY.

Washington, I). 0. 

